First Letters--Thursday, June 16, 2016

Hi Mom!!!

Hahahaha you can write me everyday if you want!! (This was in response to something I had written her.)

It's crazy here. I was exhausted all day yesterday but then I couldn't fall asleep and I didn't sleep well. I think it's because I have no idea what I am doing and I am kind of nervous. I will hopefully start sleeping better. We also don't have exercise time yet so my legs bug me even if I do stretch. So last night I had to get out of bed and sit against the wall for a minute to make them stop. 

The food here isn't super good but I wouldn't say it's gross. We also eat at way weird times. Yesterday we had dinner at 4:15 pm. I was hungry when we went to bed at 10:30 pm. 

Holy cow the language is crazy. Our teachers speak it and my brain keeps thinking that it will make sense but it doesn't. I don't understand. But! It's okay because I've heard you just need to make it through the first few days and then you'll be fine. After that the time flies! I almost burst into tears today. I kept tearing up and looking away and my poor companion was probably wondering what was wrong with me. I've held them back mostly successfully! 

I have had the "Moses" song from Singing in the Rain going through my head because someone mentioned Moses yesterday and now I can't get it out of my head. But I don't mind that song! I like it!

My companion is great! She is so cute! She is from Alabama. (She is the one that messaged me on facebook before coming out here!!! She's so nice and I'm glad I can finally meet her!) Her name is Rachael Yergensen! She's very nice and we get along REALLY well. There are four of us who are speaking Croatian. A sister companionship (us) and an elder companionship. Elder Christensen is from Idaho and Elder James is from Arizona. We are our district. Our zone has like 30 or 40 people in it. I was asking around to see how big other zones are and someone said that other zones have anywhere from 50 to 100 people in it. So I guess ours is little. It's cute though! I like it! There are people going to Poland and the Adriatic South and the Czech Republic and probably some other places. 

It has been crazy but pretty good. I'm hoping my nerves will settle down soon. I saw Angela Stout! And Davis Mendel (I went to high school with Davis). But that's all of the people that I know. 

I love you lots!

Bok, 

Sestra Locey

(Then she sent me another email right after.)

Also, we have four other roommates. Two are going to Salt Lake or something and two are going to Poland. They will all be gone by next Tuesday. We just got here and they're just leaving! It's a fun trade off though! Ah, I can't wait to be out there!

(I apparently forgot more than I thought I did.) We teach our first investigator tomorrow. In Croatian. I don't speak Croatian. I can say dobar dan - good day (hello) and ja se zovem sestra Locey - my name is sister Locey (I am called). I look up everything else. I am very grateful for French. Holy cow. I have drawn so many parallels and when I don't know what I am saying in Croatian (always), my mind defaults to French. I think I am getting more practice on my French than I am learning Croatian. But that's okay. I need to keep up on that! 

My P days are Saturdays. I'm kinda bummed about that because it would've been nice to have a break in the middle of the week as well as the weekend. (Sundays seem like a little break too.) But I guess two days off in a row is better than nothing. 

We sit ALL DAY LONG. In the morning we have three hours of study time. We don't move. I get so antsy. I am excited for when we finally get exercise time. I think we get it starting Saturday or something. Maybe Monday. I guess I'll just have to do my own exercises until then. They have a six am exercise class for the sisters. My companion and I think that we want to do that. We are just afraid we will be so tired. If I were to fall asleep at 10:30 pm when lights go out and wake up at 6:30 (the latest they want you to get up), I would be getting eight hours of sleep. I hope that's enough. I'm concerned I'm going to get sick all the time because I won't get enough sleep. But the Lord will bless me and I will try to be asleep when the lights go out and I think that will help.

Love you!! 

Love, 

Jessa